This invention relates to circuit breakers and, more particularly, to a new and improved circuit breaker having a separate box for a circuit breaker attachment.
It is often desirable for a circuit breaker assembly to contain not only the circuit breaker itself with its switching contacts and an operating assembly, but also one or more attachments such as a microswitch which is operated by actuation of circuit breakers to operate displays or alarms. Moreover, such an attachment should preferably be detached easily from the circuit breaker after it has been installed to permit alteration. Heretofore, such attachments have been constructed to be attached with screws or engaged in slots with openings before a cover is mounted on the circuit breaker.
With such arrangements, the cover of the circuit breaker must be removed to permit installation or replacement of an attachment on a circuit breaker that has already been adjusted and tested. In other words, such arrangements require the additional steps of removing and replacing the cover and, in addition, the switching mechanism and the adjusted tripping device of the circuit breaker are exposed. For this reason, greater care must be used and only skilled persons are qualified to do such work. On the other hand, if breakers are equipped with built-in attachments, they have to be handled separately from those which are not equipped therewith and the manufacturing process also must be different. Moreover, if attachments are to be replaced in such units, only skilled persons are permitted to do the work, which is disadvantageous since a substantial amount of time is required.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a circuit breaker arrangement permitting an attachment containing a microswitch or the like to be attached or replaced without removing the cover of the circuit breaker or requiring special skill.